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What did you do to your WK/XK today?

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radiator
2M views 19K replies 1K participants last post by  99sajeep 
#1 · (Edited)
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#18,464 ·
Nothing yet, just put up a thread on a job needed done. T-stat type deal, but can't get into vehicle without jumping battery and if I manually unlock it like I've done before, LOL, the alarm won't go off til I start it up. It's crazy.
 
#18,469 ·


The first of the metal is cut!

I wanted to cut full width pieces so I didn't have a weld seam in the bumper. I'm an idiot and didn't measure the full width properly so I didn't have wide enough material to do so. I did have enough material to make the 4 halves to make the back face of the bumper though *stupid stupid stupid*. Ultimately, I think it is going to work out for the better, much easier to cut one half out and use it as a guide to trace the second half exactly the same. Instead of one full sheet that is close but will have some variation side to side. I also intend to cut up the tow hitch and weld to the middle of the bumper so it will stitch both halves together on the top and back plate really well, in addition to the welded seams.

Gotta get some more cutoff wheels. I have my last one on the grinder right now. Really unimpressed with the Makita cutoff wheels.
 
#18,470 ·
The diablo stainless steel rated wheels are quite good, getting grinding wheels from an industrial supplier is probably better than getting them from a big box consumer store. I bought a nibbler at an auction so I can just chomp my way through 1/8" steel now without using any consumables.
 
#18,472 ·
Our Jeep club did a birthday train. Somebody in the club heard about a boy who's turning 6 and his birthday was cancelled due to the whole virus thing. We had about 10-12 Jeeps get together and did a drive-by. The cops came while we were staging, but we were being safe and staying 6 feet apart and all that. The kid was super stoked and it felt really damn good to help somebody out like that.
 
#18,473 ·
Current mileage: 229,134
Changed my trans filters and put in 6.5 quarts of new ATF+4 fluid. Only had about 45k miles since the last change, but I had some free time here lately...
I will say, having installed the drain plug in the pan a couple years ago is truly a benefit. I still made a bit of mess, but nothing like before!
 
#18,474 ·
Doing plugs on my '09 4.7. Found out the previous owner did have plugs done at some point, but the same plug was used for both the intake and exhaust locations, and all were gapped at .50. Intake should be .39 to .40. After the new intake plugs it feels like a different motor. Also, the knocking sound I though was mechanical must have been spark knock all along. I can't hear it anymore. Working on the exhaust plugs right now as I get free time at work.
 
#18,477 ·
Bumper progress has been slow... Every step is taking forever. I have 3 kiddos who's rooms are above the garage. So nap time and bed time stops progress. I really don't want to spend all this time and money and not be 100% happy with it. I have had to cut some tacks and pull things apart and refit different things over and over, start tacking things back up only to realize my adjustment screwed up other things, so cut it back apart and figure out how to fix the first problem without causing the second.... I am really happy where I'm at, and progress has picked up. Mounts are all welded up and final at this point so its just a matter of building the rest of the area under the lights, cut out some gussets to weld in throughout. final weld and finish.







 
#18,485 ·
Finally got around to changing my passenger side exhaust manifold/gasket and bolts today. The rear 2 studs had broken and it was ticking pretty bad. If I can offer any advise to anyone doing this in the future...I tried to be stubborn and remove as little as possible. I quickly realized that the little time it takes to remove the airbox and alternator, it makes this job not so bad at all. Without removing them, you’re going to want to set the Jeep on fire and take it as a loss. I got lucky and my studs had broken right at the head so once I got the manifold off I had plenty of real estate for pliers. Didn’t have to do any welding. It’s funny though how open it is once you get the airbox and alternator out, yet it’s still a ***** to get a wrench in everything. Even my rear broken bolts were deceivingly wide open but then you go to put the pliers on them and there’s not really any good angles. But of all the small hassles doing this job, one the of the biggest pain in the *** parts was getting the bolts/nuts back into the downpipe flange. My neighbors met a whole new person during that phase of reassembly. And don’t even try to get them off the conventional way. I spent a whole 5 seconds on that before I went found my oscillating tool with a metal cutting but. Took about 30 seconds per side and I was done. All in all it wasn’t near as bad as I thought it would be.
 
#18,491 ·
Been running 3-way active up front for a while now, and while I got things EQ'd pretty well, I still know it could sound better. Tweeters flush mounted into the A-pillars and 3.5's in the factory location leave a bit to be desired with staging. I'm also switching to so higher end drivers here soon, so I figured I'd start working on some a-pillar speaker pods to bring them more on axis get the most out of them.

Made a couple templates out of cardboard, traced to MDF, cut out with a saw, smoothed and shaped to better match the contours of the dash, cut the speaker holes, and then duplicated the piece using a router with a flush trim bit. I also made a set out of PVC board, though a bad bearing on one of the bits caused it to melt down into the material in a couple spots. Neither panel is perfect anyway, so I'll be remaking them. I have speaker alignment down, but I'm still experimenting with design. Next set I make I'll be cutting the inside corner after the 3.5" and angling it inwards to lessen the amount of the dash it covers. Once I get a design I'm happy with I'll make a few extra sets before I start fiber-glassing and matching it to the a-pillar. Been going well so far, but this was all a random Monday morning idea, I really have no idea what I'm doing, so I'm bound to have something mess up eventually. Spares are good!
 

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#18,492 ·
I've started hauling food from my weekday home to my weekend home using an electric Coleman cooler. Having the cigarette lighter in the back of the Jeep is great and the plug doesn't pop out over the 3 hour trips. The Coleman isn't as good as the 3-way fridge in my van but it is good enough. The drawbacks being that it has a fan running continuously and you need to leave your vehicle running for it to work without killing your battery.
 
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